The Struggle
by MissSmolder
Summary: Caroline oneshot with Klaroline and hints of Steroline. Slightly AU. Klaus and Stefan are still unsure about what to do over Connor, so Klaus is still in town when Connor takes Matt, April, and Jeremy hostage. As things seem to be getting out of hand, they call Caroline in for help. She learns the hard way that killing the hunter may not have been the best idea.


**Hey guys! I was inspired by a post about Elena's hallucinations on tumblr to write a fic where Caroline had killed Connor instead. So, here it is. :) There are hints of Klaroline and Steroline, but there's more Klaroline so that's why I chose Klaus as the other character. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Caroline was sitting on the couch in the room of the Lockwood Mansion that formerly served as Mayor Lockwood's office, one hand tightly wrapped around an untouched drink. It was highly unlikely that the alcohol would actually make her feel sick, but as her stomach continued to turn the idea itself was enough to make her keep from bringing the liquid anywhere near her mouth.

From her place she could hear Tyler talking, possibly arguing, back and forth with another hybrid. This was how most of her morning had been spent. She had just let her eyes slip close for a moment when the sound of a female voice caused them to snap back open. It was the werewolf. _Hayley_. Klaus' words immediately ran through her head. _Although I do happen to know your little secret about your time in Appalachia. _

A part of her kept saying that she had no business trusting Klaus, this was all stupid. Tyler wouldn't do that to her. And if he did, wouldn't he at least have the decency to tell her? They weren't the same people that they had been before all of this, they had both changed. In good ways. In the ways they needed to even. But then again, why would Klaus lie about that? Tyler had barely even spoken to her in the past hour and-

The feel of her phone vibrating in her pocket broke her thoughts. It was a text from Elena, and she got an uneasy feeling that something was going wrong.

At the sight of a simple "SOS" text, Caroline knew that she would have to save dealing with whatever was going on with Tyler for later. Her friends needed her help.

* * *

Caroline had followed Stefan in through the underground tunnels to the Mystic Grill. Connor had Matt, Jeremy, and April and they had to find a way to get them out. Stefan told her that she was only meant to be back up and warned her not to try to kill Connor, but she was more than ready to kick the guy's ass.

They heard a tapping sound coming from the other side of where Stefan said they should enter. "Is that?" It sounded like someone was trying to break the wall away. She exchanged a look with Stefan. "Matt?"

"Caroline?" Came back in a hushed whisper.

"Matt!" She smiled.

Stefan gestured for her to step back as he moved toward the wall. "Matt, it's Stefan. I'm going to break open the wall and I need you to step back."

"Ok." They heard a few seconds later.

She watched on as Stefan took a step forward and lined his leg with the wall before swiftly kicking it. When a hole was opened in the center of it after what Caroline thought was a loud crash they all stood still for a moment, waiting for any signs that someone had heard. When nothing happened Caroline and Stefan exchanged another look before Stefan brought himself up through the hole and Caroline followed.

As she looked around she saw Matt sitting on the floor with April, who looked painfully confused. "What's going on?" Her eyes locked with Caroline's.

Caroline quickly brought a finger to her lips. "Is Jeremy?" Her eyes drifted to Matt as she gestured to the door behind them.

He nodded.

"Ok." Stefan stepped in and ushered Matt and April to their feet. "You guys should go." He quietly spoke. "You can follow the tunnel out."

When he was helping April down he looked back to Caroline. "Maybe you should go back with them."

"No." She shook her head.

"It'll be fine, Caroline." He reassured her. "And they could probably use the help."

"No, I'm staying Stefan."

"Alright." He knew there was no way he could make her actually go back now, no matter how badly he wanted her to.

After April and Matt where gone Stefan straightened himself back up and edged toward the door, looking out the window. Caroline stood behind him and looked with him, seeing the remains of a very dead hybrid and the reason why Connor probably hadn't heard Stefan kicking through the wall.

"Should we go in?" Her eyes landed on Connor talking to Jeremy.

"There could be traps." Stefan's head tilted down as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "Damn it."

"What? What is it?"

He silently held the phone up for her to see the text from Damon. _Elena's on her way in. Bravo brother._

Before Caroline even had time to sigh she heard the sound of Elena's voice. She was already here. Of course Damon had waited to tell him until it would be too late to do anything.

"We have to do something." It came out in a quiet hiss.

"I know." Stefan's head darted back and forth. "Follow me."

Caroline wordlessly followed him as they slipped past the door, being careful to not make any sounds. Stefan moved behind the bar and she went with him. They heard Elena trying to reason with Connor.

"I know that you're boyfriend's here." Caroline's head snapped to the side to meet Stefan's. He was staring straight ahead.

Her hand was moving to touch his arm when his eyes finally met hers and he was shifting his legs, moving to stand up. The look he gave her was telling her not to say anything, so she didn't. "You don't have to do this." She heard him say.

"Yes, I do." The sound of a gunshot and then a loud explosion made Caroline jump. She felt the bar shake behind her and as her head frantically looked to the side she saw that Stefan was no longer beside her.

Before she even had time to give it a second thought she stood up from behind the bar. Her eyes flashed from Stefan lying on the ground to Jeremy with a gunshot wound before seeing Elena tussling with Connor. She had surprised him by revealing that she was a vampire, but he still had weapons. Caroline moved as fast as she could over to them and pulled Connor away from her friend. He was still surprised enough to take a few seconds to get to his feet and Caroline used that time to her advantage. Without thinking her hands placed themselves on his neck where they tightened and then roughly jerked to one side. His body fell beside her feet.

* * *

It was 2 A.M., Caroline learned as her head tilted toward her alarm clock once again. She had been laying here awake for over an hour now. Restless couldn't even begin to describe how she felt as her head lulled back to the center of her pillow. Every time she felt like she could finally go back to sleep again and uneasy feeling crept through her. It made her head feel heavy and her breath hitch.

She didn't know what was wrong, but her mind was moving faster than she would like it to. And she couldn't get the image of Connor's dead body out of her mind. Couldn't stop feeling the sensation of snapping his neck in her fingers.

Her hand drifted up to her neck and she felt her hair sticking to the nape of it, which was covered in sweat. _Ew. _Caroline couldn't even remember the last time she had sweat, and now she knew she wouldn't be going to sleep anytime soon.

She started pushing the covers away from her body and swung her legs to the side of the bed, feeling some relief as her toes touched the floor. Maybe a shower was exactly what she needed. She stood up from the bed completely and started toward the bathroom. She quietly opened and closed her bedroom door, trying to be careful not to wake her mom up, before padding toward the bathroom.

After she shut the door behind her she felt unbearably hot, like her skin was on fire. She was grateful that she didn't have much on as she pulled her camisole over her head and slipped her shorts and underwear down. A wave of Goosebumps came over her despite the heat she still felt. As soon as she slid the shower door open she was turning the knob and moving beneath the head of the shower. She tilted her head up and let the cool water rush down her face and the front of her body.

When the feeling of being too warm seemed to go away she slipped her hand back down to the knob and pulled it in the opposite direction. With the warm water covering her skin Caroline let out a sigh and began turn around. Just as the water began to wet the ends of her hair, which was dry apart from the area above her forehead, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Caroline." She heard her mom call out.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah-I'm fine." She spun back around in the shower and moved her hand back to the handle to cut the water off. It hadn't really occurred to her that her taking a shower at 2 A.M. might make her mom feel concerned, but then again she hadn't planned on her waking up.

As she stepped out from the shower she pulled the cabinet door open and grabbed a towel. She unfolded it and began patting her body dry before skimming the ends of her hair that were wet with her fingers. Discarding the towel to the floor, she picked her clothes up from the counter and started pulling them back on.

Before opening the door she took a quick look at herself in the mirror, noticing that she looked slightly pale and the darkness under her eyes. Was she getting sick? Shaking the idea out of her head, she moved over to the door. "Sorry Mom," She put on a smile as she pulled the door open. "I was just-" She froze, speechless, when her mom wasn't at the door. _It was Connor._

"Oh my god." Her hand went to her chest as she took a step back.

"What's wrong, Caroline? Surprised to see me?" There was a sick grin on his face.

"You're dead." Her hand clutched at her chest. "I killed you."

"Yes, you killed me Caroline. Because you're a monster. And now I'm going to make sure that you don't hurt anyone else."

"No." She shook her head.

He took another step toward her and she backed further away, her legs hitting the front of the toilet as she did. She had nowhere to go. "You deserve to die Caroline."

"No, I don't." Her fangs shot out and her eyes darkened as she stood her ground, taking another step toward the man. His hands went up and she moved in to attack, roughly biting into his neck.

Right as the blood hit her tongue Caroline heard what sounded like her name desperately being called by her mom before a solid force hit her body. She faintly caught sight of a blurred face and dark hair standing in front of her before she roughly went to the ground.

* * *

When Caroline woke back up she didn't know where she was. "Mom?" She looked around the unfamiliar room as her eyes blinked several times while she fought to feel completely awake again. Her arms wrapped around themselves and she realized that a jacket was now over her camisole, covering her, though she still remained in the small pair of shorts. Had she been vervained? What the hell had happened?

After a few groggy seconds it all hit her at once. "No." She sat up completely. _She had attacked her mom. _But why? What was wrong with her? The panic began to set in. It was because it wasn't her mom, it was that hunter. But he was dead?

As she quickly stood to her feet she continued to look around the room. No, she had no idea where she was. By the look of the furniture and room she could tell that she was in a large house, but whose? And were the windows covered?

The idea of being taken was something that was far from new to her at this point. As they seemed to be constantly under attack from someone, Caroline had found herself put in dangerous situations too many times to even count, so she tried not to panic. Someone would save her. She would be ok. But this time was different. There was something wrong with her, that much she knew.

When she realized that she was at a loss for what to do she walked to the bedroom door, which she of course had no way of opening. "Hello?" She timidly knocked. When she was met with nothing but silence she knocked harder. "Hello! Is anyone out there?"

After a moment the smooth, alarmingly comforting voice spoke her name. "Caroline."

"Klaus?"

"Yes sweetheart, it's me."

"Where am I?" Her head was leaning against the door. "What's going on?"

"You're under a bit of a curse right now."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You killed a hunter, love. When a person does so, there's a bit of a consequence. I have you in there so that you won't get hurt." He calmly explained.

She let out a heavy breath. She protected her friend, and now she was under a curse. Of course she was. "Am- Am I going to be ok?" The question came out in a whisper.

"Yes, of course. We're handling it right now."

"Ok." She nodded to herself. "Thank you." She said to him after a moment of silence. She didn't even know if this had been his idea, it probably had, or any of the other circumstances, making she wasn't even thanking him. But she said it out loud anyway.

"You're welcome."

When she knew that Klaus was gone she wandered back to the other side of the room, noticing that the windows were covered with art. Of course this was his doing. A strange smile came over her face and she didn't know why. After a moment she looked back to the bed and went to go sit down on it. Maybe she could just sleep all of this off.

As her back hit the soft bed beneath her a warmth came over her and her eyes easily shut. It only took a short amount of time for her body to begin to relax.

"Really Caroline?" The harsh voice made her come back into alert.

She opened her eyes to see Connor standing at the foot of the bed, staring down at her. "Wha-"

"How can you live with yourself like this, knowing that you've taken an innocent human's life?"

"I-" _The consequences, _as Klaus had put it, her mind told her.

"You're a monster."

"No." She shook her head.

"How can you even think that you deserve to live?"

She stared back at him, her legs instinctively pulling themselves up to her chest, like there was a monster at the foot of the bed. "You're dead." She tilted her head down, running her hand through her hair. This wasn't real, there had to be a way she could make this go away.

"That's right. I'm dead. Because of you." His lips pulled up into a cruel smile as she looked back at him. "And you enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"No I didn't." She said quickly.

"Don't lie." He raised his voice. "You enjoyed it just as much as you enjoyed that first kill. You _loved _it."

She pushed herself up from the bed and paced in the opposite direction, away from him. "You're not real."

"You want to kill humans." The accusation came from right behind her. He was close enough that she could feel his breath as he spoke. "Even the ones you love. And you hate yourself for that, as you should." Caroline felt her breath catch. "You're a monster, Caroline Forbes. You don't deserve to live."

"Stop!" She shouted, not being able to take it anymore. As she whipped around, arms prepared to hit the man that would be in front of her, she saw nothing. He was gone. She let out a few shaky breaths and tried to push the words away with them. Her hands moved below her eyes to swipe away the wetness that she was sure would be there and came up dry. The fight she had put up against herself had paid off.

Before the peace and quiet even had time to settle in the voice was beckoning to her. "Sweetheart."

She couldn't stop herself from turning around. "Daddy?"

Her dad was smiling softly at her. "Hello Caroline."

Her feet immediately began carrying her toward him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help you." He answered as she reached him, arms extended out.

"Really?" She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face there, letting her hair and his chest conceal her, just as she had done since she was a little girl.

"Of course." He gently stroked her hair. "You know what you need to do, don't you?"

"No." She looked up at him.

"You need to let go Caroline." His hands moved to her cheeks. "You shouldn't be here, you should be dead."

"But I don't want to die, Daddy." A tear quickly slipped down from her eye.

"But you have to. You don't belong here. Everyone in your life would be better off if you had just died, like you were supposed to." He let go of her face.

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yes." His hands reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and produced a stake. "Here." He offered it out to her. "Just get it over with, baby."

A few more tears fell. "Ok, Daddy." All she could do was nod helplessly as her hands wrapped around the stake. She looked up again and he gave her a reassuring smile. Her eyes slowly closed as she positioned the stake in front of her chest. Counting backwards from three she exerted enough strength to let it plunge into her chest.

As soon as the force hit all she did was stumble backwards, causing her eyes to open and see that her hands were empty. There was no stake and her dad was gone. "You're pathetic." The voice sneered from beside her.

"Go away."

"You know how to make this all go away Caroline."

"No. I'm not doing that. I deserve to live."

"Didn't I deserve to live? Didn't that guy from the carnival deserve to live, Caroline?"

"Yes."

"Then this is what you deserve."

Her head buried itself in her hands and the voice was silent. But she didn't move, scared of what would happen if she did.

After what felt like a few minutes had passed, she had no idea how long it really was, she allowed her head to lift back up. Her entire body remained rigid as she waited for her tormenter to reappear, but he didn't. She tested moving several steps and found herself breathing again each time nothing happened when she did. Her lower body pressed against the frame of the bed and she let herself slide down to the floor. Her knees pulled back up to her chest and she her head moved down to rest against them. "Please hurry." She whispered.

For a while, she was left alone in the quiet. The only torture she had to fight was done internally. No one was speaking to her but she couldn't stop hearing the voices. In the silence it was impossible to escape them. That changed as the sound of the heavy door opening caught her attention though. Her head shot up to see Stefan Salvatore standing in the doorway with a relieved look on his face. Her own relieved breath came out.

Something stirred inside her. Wait, how was this right? It was Stefan. He was here to save her. As he took a step inside and gave her that familiar earnest smile, one she had seen many times after she had first turned, a wave of relief washed over her. She naturally reciprocated the smile and began to rise to her feet as she saw his outstretched hand.

She felt the new calm come over her as she approached him, but as soon as she was close enough to touch him she knew there was something wrong. He wasn't moving, and he was no longer smiling. "Stefan?" The darkness was creeping its way back. "Stefan." She half whimpered. The desperateness building up inside of her revealed itself outwardly as she began to tremble. His eyes were dark and the red veins below his eyes along with his elongated fangs came into sight. Something was definitely wrong, she was with ripper Stefan.

xxx

"Klaus!" Stefan growled as he heard her whimper his name and then quietly begin to cry. "That's Caroline in there!"

"I'm well aware of that, mate." He responded harshly. "But opening that door isn't going to do a thing."

"I could help her."

"And what if she gets out, hm? Ends up killing herself. What happens then, Stefan?" He remained silent. "Let me remind you that I've been through this before."

Stefan paced in front of the door and then paced back. This went on for a few moments before he heard Caroline make a few rumblings of pleasure and then scream. He and Klaus locked eyes. Stefan knew he was silently demanding something.

"Try calling her name, mate." Klaus offered, the tone of his voice giving something away. Everyone knew about Klaus' interest in Caroline, but the look on his face was saying more than that. So why was he telling him to do this?

Knowing that now was not the time to be questioning Klaus' feelings, Stefan moved to the door. "Caroline." He called.

Silence passed.

"Caroline." He repeated.

xxx

Caroline had the girl pinned against the chair, her hands pressing against her body as her teeth dug into her neck. Stefan was on the other side of her neck and she was very much aware of his presence beside her, it was intensifying everything. As the blood filled her mouth sounds of pleasure escaped her throat. It had been so long since she had fed like this. Suddenly she felt a hand curl around her neck and get tangled in her hair, pulling slightly. The sensation of the pull combined with the blood made her moan. She pulled back from the girl's neck and tilted her head to find Stefan, who was only inches away from her, waiting.

Her eyes found his and she found a dark lust there, which she was sure reflected her own. As her lips moved toward his she couldn't imagine that she had ever wanted anything more. Just as they were about to connect she stumbled forward, meeting nothing. She caught herself on the chair, screaming, maybe as a plea of help.

Her hand moved up to her lips to wipe away any traces of the blood and found nothing, though she could almost still taste it. She was about to lose it. What was wrong with her? _Maybe I want to die, _she thought. As she was about to allow herself to let out the sob that was waiting in her chest she heard her name being called from the other side of the door. The first time it didn't register with her who the voice belonged to. But the second time it did. "Stefan." She flashed over to the door.

"Caroline." She heard him rest his head against the door. "Are you ok?"

Everything that just happened-or that she had thought just happened- ran through her mind. "No." She answered honestly with a shake of her head. "Have you guys figured anything out?"

"Yes, sweetheart." The sound of Klaus' voice came to her.

"Jeremy's on his way over here right now. We have a plan." Stefan said.

"Ok, ok." She was going to get through this. She would be fine.

"It's almost over."

She held her hands against the coolness of the door, allowing herself to calm down. She just wanted the ability to think clearly again. As she turned around and let her back rest against the door she was almost surprised to find that she wasn't alone.

"Hello Caroline." She saw Klaus stretched lazily across her bed.

"Klaus." She bit her lip, afraid of what could happen.

"Why don't you come here, sweetheart?" His eyes drifted to the space on the bed beside him. "You know you want to."

She shook her head.

"Oh come on, love."

Caroline remained firmly against her place on the door, afraid of what would happen if she risked doing anything else. But that was taken away from her when in a flash Klaus was now in front of her. "Why you do you insist on putting up so much resistance?" He was less than a foot away from her. "This could be so simple if only you would let it." His hands placed themselves against the door on either side of her.

"No." She quietly protested.

"You know that I'm what you want. I could give you _everything._" His voice was husky in the way that made her involuntarily tense. "That's it sweetheart." He smirked.

"I don't care."

"Is that so?" His eyebrows rose to challenge her. "Then push me away, Caroline." He whispered as his head dropped to her neck. The slight touch of his lips to her neck made her head go back against the door. "That's what I thought." She felt his lips begin to trail down her neck and she tilted her head to allow him better access. As one of his hands slid to her hip and the other lightly against her cheek she found her body arching toward him. Caroline reveled in the roughness of Klaus against her. "Klaus." Quietly slipped from her lips.

"Look at yourself. This is who you truly are." He said as he pulled back from her neck and her eyes began to close. "You belong with me."

Those words were enough to snap her out of it. "No!" Her arms went to push the body away from her, only finding air. The coldness she felt where she imagined Klaus had been was enough to alarm her in itself, but Connor was back in front of her.

"Do you see what kind of person you are Caroline?" He tilted his head. "You're attracted to that monster. If they knew they would hate you for it."

"No, I'm not!"

"Don't lie." He took a step toward her. "Just end all of this now. Don't you see that you're nothing but a nuisance to everyone around you? You're just another problem for Elena and Bonnie on top of everything else, someone else for Stefan and Damon to protect, and your mother, can't you see what you've put her through?" Caroline could feel the tremble work itself up through her again. "It's your fault that your dad died. So much, is your fault."

She started crying openly. "I didn't mean-"

"I know." He took a step forward. "It's not your fault that you're a monster." There was a gentle smile. "But you can end it now, and protect those around you. Don't you want to protect them?"

"Yes." She choked out.

Connor turned and started walking to the other side of the room and she followed him as if in a trance. "Good." He stood by the bed and bent down. "Here." His hand touched one of the legs. "Break one of these off, it can function as a stake. You can put an end to all of this."

The crying continued, her chest heaving up and down with sobs as she lowered herself down to her knees. Her hands reached out for a leg of the bed and snapped it. She spun it in her hands so that the sharpest end was pointed to her chest. "I'm sorry." She cried out to no one in particular. Herself, everyone.

"I know." A voice soothed her. "It's ok."

With that she made a nod of acceptance and let her eyes close, knowing it would be real this time. This was what she needed to do. Her hands shifted back and prepared to plunge to stake in. As her hands moved forward the sound of the door loudly hitting the wall made her jump.

"Caroline!" The stake was out of her hands before she could even blink. In a matter of seconds a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her, enfolding her there. With the feeling of the protection around her she couldn't muster up the strength or desire to even move. "Caroline." He quietly whispered. Her head buried itself in his shoulder.

The embrace was quickly ended when Caroline felt other sets of arms wrapping around her and helping her to her feet. She quickly realized that she was caught in the familiar hug of Bonnie and Elena. She could feel a mix of tears as her cheeks touched theirs. They must have heard what happened to her in here or something even worse must have happened out there. For now, she was too afraid to ask.

As they pulled back they all shared a choked laugh. "You ok?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline saw the tear stains on her cheeks and she wasn't entirely sure who they belonged to. "Yeah." She nodded. "I will be." They gave her reassuring squeezes before fully letting go and moving to leave the room.

When Caroline looked past them she found Stefan. "Thank you." She mouthed

"You're welcome." He gave her a smile. She knew they would have to talk later. She didn't know how much he, or anyone, had heard. Some things had become a complete blur to her even, but she had the feeling that something had been revealed.

After Stefan turned so did Caroline, but the opposite way. It was hard to forget the presence that was looming behind her. "Klaus." Her eyes met the deep blue.

"Caroline." He smiled, taking a step toward her. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Thank you, for helping."

"It was my pleasure love."

Caroline felt nervous in the silence between them. "You heard didn't you?" She had to ask.

He fought back a grin. "Oh yes."

"Great." Her eyes tilted down, wanting to look anywhere but at his. "Are you going to start tormenting me about that now?"

He seemed to consider this. "You've had a pretty rough day, I believe we can save that for tomorrow."

"How considerate."

Klaus chuckled. "Come one, love. Let's get you out of here." He offered out his arm and after a second of thought she gratefully took it. One thing that room had shown her and that she had to accept, she didn't actually hold any hatred for Klaus inside of her.

* * *

**Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it, reviews are always very much appreciated! **


End file.
